Feeling discouraged...

Hello,

I'm new here, although I've been browsing these forums for a few months now. About 3 months ago I was working at a car dealership making almost 6 figures and decided to start a career in IT because I love technology. I told my boss I was planning on leaving in the next several months to start a new career, so he would have plenty of time to find a replacement for me. In short he found one and fired me. I'm about ready to take the CCENT exam and the first CompTIA A+ exam. I began looking for jobs and reading more on here. I can't find ANYTHING that doesn't require experience and 57 other acronyms I've never heard of or a college degree and those things. Even Help Desk jobs in my area are asking for 3+ years of experience. Ideally I'd like to work for an NOC even as a tech, but I haven't found a single job posting for that, and I'm in a pretty big market.

A friend of my family is the head of cyber security for a very large bank. When I first started looking into IT he told me to get my CCNA or CCNP because they literally cannot find decent people with those certificates. I asked him if it would help me to go back to college and get a Computer Science or IT degree and he said no, without thinking about it. He said to get a job at a Help Desk, my CCNA, and move to a NOC position after being with the company for a year and I'd make 60k at least. However, the research I've done and what I've read on these forums makes this seem like he is out of his mind. I have read some posts and heard some of you with stories that would make that seem possible though.

I really just need help formulating a plan here. Should I go back to college? I have one semester to go on an Economics degree at Ohio State University. Wondering if I should transfer those credits and start an IT degree? Or should I finish my CCNA/CompTIA A+ and try to find a help desk or NOC position? Where do you find these jobs? Are a lot of them through Temp agencies? Recruiters? I don't see many at all on the job boards I have been searching.

I would appreciate any advice. I'm extremely motivated and driven, I just need to figure out a path so I know what direction to run with this.

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Comments

scaredoftests

Arowden wrote: »

Thank you all so much for the advice! I spoke to WGU yesterday. I think that's the best option considering I'll be moving in 6 months. With my transfer credit and finishing the CCNA/A+ before enrolling, I should be able to finish within a year I hope. I feel like it would take me longer than that to finish my Econ degree and get the certs it offers anyways! So it's a win win, degree and certs! I'm also hopeful that once I get a few certs under my belt being in that degree program will help me land an entry level job, internship or temp work. Until then I'm just going to not work and be a full time student to get this over with.

Luckily, since my boss fired with without ever writing me up for anything, it looks like I'll be getting paid unemployment while I study. That blew up in his face.

Goodness, is your boss that mean-spirited? Boo

markulous

Depending on the state a write-up isn't enough to get you denied unemployment either. I refused to sign a write-up and got fired for it. They tried to appeal unemployment by saying it was their policy that refusing to sign it is quitting by default, but California said, "You're wrong" and awarded me.

Your boss sounds a lot like the boss I had in that same situation. The one time I had to go home (had a really bad stomach virus), I got a simple text, "You better be throwing up". Wouldn't let us eat or go to the bathroom on most jobs. Would have unpaid meetings early on weekends with almost no notice and cut your hours if you missed it. Etc, etc.

Back to the point though, WGU is a good choice. Keep us updated!

NetworkingStudent

Hello Arowden,

I would look at the program listed below.
It could help you break into IT.

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ImYourOnlyDJ

If you have one semester left on your Econ degree I'd say finish it out. Its harder to go back to school after you stop and a lot of companies require a bachelors degree to fill the check box. I have a Finance degree and I would argue that its more valuable to me than an IT degree due to being able to see the bigger picture and understand the concerns that a business would have. You can always study certifications to fill in the IT knowledge gap. Personally once I obtained my degree I knocked out A+ and Net+ then landed a job at a Help Desk (currently doing network and systems work). If you are good you can move up very fast in IT.

Fayz

You could finish up that semester to get your Economics degree I am assuming that it is a B.A. If you finish you can get that degree requirement listed on jobs out of the way. There are many people working in IT with non IT related degrees. Study for the A+ and CCNA in your spare time once you get those you should be able to at least find some soft of help desk job or NOC job. Dice and Indeed are god job search engines. You already have customer service skills, sales skills, communication, etc emphasize on the skills you have when you apply for jobs and on interviews. Also NetworkingStudent has info which is an alternative, you could get into the industry fast with that route.